Howard's 'Angels' ready to fly

Empty

ROME -- The Municipality of Rome on Thursday approved the required permits for the film adaptation of "Angels & Demons," meaning the hotly anticipated follow-up to last year's hit "The Da Vinci Code" will begin filming early next year.

The "Angels & Demons" story is a prequel to that of "Da Vinci." The first film grossed a reported $758 million worldwide. The release date for the follow-up has been set for December 2008.

With the permits now in place, filming on "Angels & Demons" is set to begin Feb. 18, mostly in Rome. The Ron Howard-led team has been denied access to film in the Vatican, where much of the story takes place. But the crew has reportedly been scouting other locations in Rome for months, and the local media has reported that they will use a studio set for the Vatican scenes.